Tuesday, April 15, 2014

From Carriages To The First Automobiles

1792 Ross Chariot - The Henry Ford Museum

In ancient times, the term "chariot" referred to two-wheel vehicles
used for war, racing, and ceremony. After 1650, the name was applied to
elegant half-coaches, cut in two just in front of the door,
characterized by an elevated body and high wheels. Lighter and less
expensive than full coaches, chariots were popular luxury vehicles in
the 18th and 19th centuries. First found in America about 1700, the
chariot was used only by persons of high rank or considerable wealth.

This
chariot was constructed by William Ross, coachmaker of 208 Broadway in
New York City. The carriage was built for Angelica Bratt Campbell who
was the wife of Daniel Campbell, an Irish immigrant who made a vast
fortune as a trader and merchant in America.

Location: The Henry Ford Museum - Dearbord, MI

1900 Eckhart Carriage - Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum

1891 Abbot Downing Stagecoach - The Henry Ford Museum

Henry Nadig builds what he claims in the first horseless carriage in America.Charles Lambert claims to have built the first internal-combustion engine powered car in America.An improved Olds steamer earns a mention in Scientific American magazine.Frenchmen Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor build a sliding-gear transmission; it foretells modern stick-shift gearboxes

1886 Benz Patent Motorwagon Replica

1879 Selden Motor Buggy - The Henry Ford Museum

1865 Roper Steam Carriage - The Henry Ford Museum

1870 Westinghouse Portable Combined Thresher-Separator

1872 Amoskeag Fire Engine

1875 Jones Streetcar - The Henry Ford Museum

1881 Westinghouse Steam Engine

1884 Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville

1887 Olds Steam Car Replica

1889 Daimler

1892 Philion Steam Carriage - National Automobile Museum

1892 Panhard et Levassor Voiturette - National Automobile Museum

1893 Automotive History

Charles and Frank Duryea drove their motorized phaeton on September 21, 1893.

Young Henry Ford began construction of his first automobile in a brick shed behind his home in Michigan.

The U.S. Office of Road Inquiry is established in 1893, a result of the "good roads" movement initiated by cycling fans.

The first brick-surfaced rural road in America is laid on Wooster Pike, Ohio in the Fall of 1893.

1894 Automotive History

Henry G. Morris and Pedro G. Salom apply for a patent on the Electrobat electric motorcar in early 1894.

Early
gearboxes are "progressive"; the driver must move a shifting lever
forward at a time time to go between gears, not unlike a motorcycle
transmission.

Rather than adopt the noisy sliding-gear unit,
some American manufacturers will turn to the planetary transmission with
constant-mesh gears and clutches to change gears.

1894 Benz Velo

1895 Chicago Benton Harbor Motocycle

This car is a rare survivor from the pioneer period of American
automobile development. It was designed and built to compete in the 1895
Chicago Times-Herald Race. With a top speed of 23 miles per hour, the
Benton Harbor may have been a viable competitor but production delays
kept it out of the race. This is one of the earliest vehicles in America
built from scratch as an automobile as opposed to construction on a
modified horse-drawn carriage.

1896 Henry Ford Quadricycle

1896 Automobile History

In March 1896, Charles King drove his
car in Detroit, three months before Henry Ford drove his Quadricycle.
Before the year was ended, Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton had cars
ready for production. The auto industry was was in full bloom.

1896 Duryea Runabout - The Henry Ford Museum

Maker: Duryea Motor Wagon Company, Springfield, Massachusetts

Engine: Inline 2-Cylinder, F-Head Valves, 138 cid, 6 hp

Transmission: 3-Speed Manual

Weight: 700 Lbs

Wheelbase: 60"

Length: 94"

Width: 56"

Height: 59"

Price: $1,500 (Estimate)

1896 Riker Electric - The Henry Ford Museum

The Riker two-passenger tricycle was built and used by Andrew L. Riker
at Stamford, Connecticut, from 1896 to 1898. Its tubular steel frame,
wire wheels, and pneumatic tires reflect the standard construction for
bicycles of that period. It is powered by a series of lead-sulfuric acid
batteries located under the seat and is driven by a Riker electric
motor mounted at the rear. Drivetrain is by direct reduction gearing in
an 8-to-1 ratio to the single rear wheel.

This is the first
vehicle of its type to be manufactured in the United States at a time
when electric, steam,and gasoline-powered automobiles were all in the
experimental stage. Also credited to Mr. Riker in the same year, 1896,
is an electric phaeton that became the first electric automobile ever to
win a prize on a racetrack in the U.S. on September 22, 1896 at the
Narragansett State Fairgrounds at Providence, Rhode Island.

Carl Breer made the steam engine and boiler, the crankshaft and
connecting rods, the levers and other controls, and the wooden body. He
bought the chassis and gauges and hired local carriage workers to paint
the car and upholster the seats. The 2-cylinder double-acting steam
engine generated about 5 horsepower. The car had two gears - forward and
reverse.

Breer restored the car in his later years when he
worked at Chrysler in Detroit. Louis Breer, Carl's father, moved from
his native Germany to the United States in 1854. He settled in Los
Angeles and set up a small blacksmith shop next door to the family's
home on what became San Pedro Street.

With the help of his sons
and hired hands, Breer repaired wagons and carriages, tools and
machinery, and horse-drawn street cars. Determined tinkerers, working in
small shops like Breer's, shaped the automobile in its early years.
Even after the industry outgrew its modest beginnings, the urge to
tinker continued to create new visions of the car.

Louis Breer's
son, Carl, learned to work metal and wood by helping his father.
Fascinated by the few cars he had seen, during the summer of 1900 the
17-year old Carl started to build one in the blacksmith shop. He powered
the car with a small steam engine and boiler based on designs in a
magazine.

The steam car, completed in 1901, convinced the faculty
of Throop Polytechnic Institute (later California Institute of
Technology) to waive the normal admission requirements for Breer. He
went on to study at Stanford before entering the auto industry as a
mechanical engineer.

Early car makers applied common tools and
processes, but the automobile demanded a wider range of skills than most
other jobs. To build his simple car, Carl Breer had to cast engine
parts from wooden patterns, machine the metal castings on a foot-powered
lathe, and forge the crankshaft at an anvil. Hand skills included
filing and finishing the metal parts and carving and cutting precise
shapes from wood.

The
1903 Ford Model A, also known as the "Fordmobile", was the first
production automobile of the Ford Motor Company, which was incorporated
on June 16, 1903. The company was nearly broke, having only $223.65 left
of the $28,000 invested, when the first Model A was sold. The Model A
was a two-seater runabout with an available detachable tonneau to
provide seating for two additional passengers. The two-cylinder motor
was located under the seat and had chain drive to the rear wheels.

The
Model A was continued, unchanged, from 1903 and was a two-seater
runabout with an available detachable tonneau to provide seating for two
additional passengers. The two-cylinder motor was located under the
seat and had chain drive to the rear wheels.

1904 Ford Model B

The
historical Model B was a 4-passenger touring car designed for the
high-end market. With its 24 horsepower, 4-cylinder engine, the Model B
could reach a speed of 40 miles per hour. It features included storage
batteries instead of dry-cells, had a 15 gallon fuel tank, rear drum
brakes, drive shaft, water pump cooling system and right-hand drive.
With its $2,000 price tag, not many were ordered and production of the
Ford Model B ended in 1905 after only 750 cars had been manufactured.
Today, there are only 5 known existing Model B cars.

The
Adams Company was formed in 1895 in Dubuque, Iowa when F. O. Farwell
joined Herbert and Eugene Adams in their experiments with gasoline
engines. They produce a unique air-cooled engine in which the crankshaft
was anchored solidly to the rear frame and the cylinders rotated around
it enabling the engine to serve as its own flywheel and receive
excellent cooling. In addition, the centrifugal force acted like a
horizontal gyroscope that tended to hold the car level.
After 1908 the company introduced no new models and went out of business in 1913.
Approximately 52 Adams-Farwell cars were made and this 1906 model is the only one known to exist today.
The 1906 Adams-Farwell pictured featured:
Engine: Air-Cooled Rotary 5-Cylinder
Bore: 5"
Stroke: 5"
Displacement: 490.9 cubic-inches
Horsepower: 40-45
Body By: Connolly Carriage and Buggy Company
Price: $2,500

This
car featured a unique steering system that could be installed at either
the rear or front seat. Installed in the front allowed for more
passengers; installed in the rear offered better weather protection for
the driver.

1906 Queen - Tupelo Automobile Museum

1907 Ford Model R - AACA Museum

1907 Westinghouse 40/Demi-Limousine - Nethercutt Collection

Manufacturer: Ste. des Automobiles Westinghouse, Le Havre, France

Coachwork: A.T.Demarest & Company, New York, NY

Engine: 4-cylinder, 381.6-cid, 40-hp

Cost New: $7,500

Location: Nethercutt Collection - Sylmar, CA

Westinghouse
automobiles were made by the French branch of the famous American
electrical company Westinghouse. This double chain drive auto is in its
original unrestored condition.

In 1919, when nearly half of the automobiles built in America were Model
T Fords, Henry Ford fitted all his cars, for the first time, with
electric starters and demountable rims. Thereafter, women could drive
the Model T without hand-cranking the engine, and flat tires could be
changed more easily.

For 1919 Ford offered four body styles - runabout, touring, coupe, and sedan. The company also built a 1-ton truck.